Northwest has seven running for board of ed

Oct. 22, 2013

Heather

Written by

Gehring

Denny

Carpenter

Gauck

Harlow

Detzel

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Voters in the Northwest Local School District have a lot to think about at they go to the polls to elect three candidates to the board of education. There are seven candidates for three four-year terms.

Dexter H. Carpenter

Dexter H. Carpenter, 59, is a custodian, maintenance man and head wrestling coach at Badin High School. He is a Deer Park High School graduate, attended Xavier University and served in the U.S Navy for three years.

Carpenter coached wrestling and tennis at Northwest High School for more than eight years and was also a custodian at the high school.

He says he is running to be part of the process to insure that all students have an opportunity to reach their goals and dreams.

“I want to make sure our parents have a voice in that process,” he said.

He says he is certified in school security training, has excellent communication skills, is a good listener and can welcome others’ opinions.

“I believe in our children and want to see them succeed in their educational goals,” he said. “I have a lot of respect for our employees in the district.”

To meet its financial challenges, he says the district should keep an open mind about the budget and use the input of the parents and employees. He says the budget is one of the biggest issues facing the district, and board members and administrators should be prepared to think outside of the box in order to reach financial goals.

He says other challenges include the district’s changing demographics and meeting state standards.

“The demographic of our district is changing and we need to change with it and look at things a little differently,” he said.

He says voters should select him because he is passionate about the students.

“I have the utmost respect for our parents and employees that help our kids reach their goals,” he said. “I am a people person and believe everyone has a right to be heard and I want to be the voice of those people.”

David Denny

David Denny, 52, is the president of the board of education. He is finishing his first term on the board. A 46-year member of the community, he is a management consultant with a bachelor’s degree in organizational psychology and is a 1979 graduate of Colerain High School.

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Before joining the board of education in 2009, Denny served on the district’s budget committee, alternative schools committee and a number of levy campaigns. He also served on the Colerain Boosters Executive Committee and is a volunteer assistant coach for Colerain’s cross country team. He has three children who attend or have graduated from the district

Denny said he is running for re-election because he believes a good education is something to be valued by a community.

“We have an obligation within that community to create opportunities for all children,” he said. “Northwest Local meets the variety of needs through college prep classes, a wide offering of vocational programs through Butler Tech, as well as alternative schooling.”

He says he has experience working with organizations in a strategic or tactical way to move their organizations forward. He says he is candid and respectful, a good listener, and is open to ideas that will help children grow in their educational opportunities.

Denny says finances are always an issue for schools.

“Whether it’s unfunded mandates by the federal or state government, declining revenue from the state, an expiring levy, the financial pressures are constant,” he said. “There are lots of needs but a finite pool of money.”

Denny said the district must continue to be diligent and creative in looking for alternative sources of resources to provide excellent education for less.

“We passed an emergency levy last year that saved extracurriculars, something that would have devastated our schools and our community,” he said. “Our present board is financially very conservative, we are not financially irresponsible.”

Denny said the district must now figure out how to work with the new report card system and move forward.

“Using the same system we have used for the previous year, we would have had eight schools rated excellent with one being excellent with distinction – our best year ever,” he said. “The measurement system has changed and its confusing to just about everyone. We have excellent administrators and teachers who will step up to the challenge.”

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If re-elected, his goals are to improve and expand blended learning, continue to improve the relationship with the townships, and educating and engaging the public on the issues.

“I will represent the citizens and school children objectively and honestly, with no hidden agenda and preconceived notion of the best answers,” he said.

Pamela L. Detzel

Pamela L. Detzel, 52, is also an incumbent seeking re-election. The co-owner of an insurance agency, she has served on the board for 16 years.

She is a 1979 graduate of Northwest High School and says her family members are all products of the Northwest Local School District. She and her husband are Northwest grads and their three daughters graduated from Colerain High School. She worked in the PTA, holding a number of offices including president of the PTA for two years. She continues to be actively involved with the cross country and track programs including announcing at Pleasant Run Middle School’s Annual Cross Country Meet and has dedicated countless hours working on the levy campaigns.

She says she us running again to insure that all students receive the best education possible.

“This is a passion of mine,” she said. “And I have dedicated the last 16 years to the Northwest Local School District as a board member. To me, it’s simple. We must make education a priority.”

She says her 16 years of experience as an active school board member is a strong qualification for reelection. She represents the board as a member of the district health insurance committee.

“I am also the student achievement liaison and work with the curriculum department to provide presentations showcasing our top programs,” she said.

Detzel she understands the challenges of school finance and says the board has cut more than $16 million from the district’s budget since 2007.

“The cuts have been very difficult, but we must continue to search for ways to stretch our dollars as much as possible,” she said. “I am very proud of what we have accomplished so far with self funding our workers compensation, joining a consortium to address the rising cost of health care, just to name a few.”

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Detzel says aging buildings in the district are a big challenge that must be met.

“Many of our buildings are in such distress that it is time to decide at what point do we quit spending money on repairs and move forward with trying to replace them,” she said. She says finances will always be an on-going issue with the school funding always changing at the state and federal level.

Detzel says the district has made strides in communication with residents but there are still improvements to be made. "There are still people in our community that truly are unaware of the tough issues that our district faces each and every day,” she said. “We must continue our quest to reach all of these community members.”

She says voters should support her because of her record as a board member.

“I believe my actions speak louder than words. I have and continue to serve for the past 16 years on the board,” she said. “I have and will always put the students of this district first. My decisions have and will continue to be made based on what is best for all kids.”

Elaine Gauck

Incumbent Elaine Gauck, 67, is a manager, secretary and treasurer, operating two businesses in Colerain Township. She is a Colerain High School graduate and says she has taken college courses for her work.

She is finishing her first four-year term.

Gauck is running for re-election because she says she believes she has made a difference during her time on the school board.

“I have kept an open mind and made decisions after getting input from the community,” she said.

Gauck says her willingness to listen without making up her mind before she has the facts is an asset on the board.

“I am always willing to learn new things,” she said.

Gauck says financial challenges are always facing Ohio schools.

“The district needs to hire good people who bring fresh ideas in finding ways to make our dollars stretch,” she said. “We presently have a treasurer who fits that category. One of the ways he has saved money is through self-insurance in regard to Workers’ Compensation.” She says the new superintendent is not afraid to make decisions and is responsive to board questions.

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Gauck says finding new resources to get money without raising taxes is a big challenge for the district. “Getting the lottery money would be a first step.” she said. “Instead of getting the money back from our taxes and the lottery money, they offset one with the other. Some years, we lost as much as $2.75 million.”

Gauck said the ability to cooperate and work together as a board is important to the success of the district.

She says keeping good teachers is going to be a challenge for the board in the next four year.

“Presently, we are low on the pay scale but I believe, most of our teachers really care about their students or they would leave,” she said.

Gauck says voters can trust her to keep her word. “If you look back on every campaign I had before I won, the bottom line was that I wanted all the community involved in any decision I would have to make,” she said. “I did have some preconceived ideas in regard to levies, but I found that once you are on the board, there are things you are privy to that make you realize that you have to keep an open mind in order to make good decisions.

“To keep balance and not have a lot of friction, you need to come to an understanding that the board is there for all the community, especially the students, not just for those that helped in their campaign.”

Bruce Gehring

Bruce Gehring, 65, is retired. He is a former vice president of Children’s Hospital and is the former CEO of Ohio Shared Information Services. He has a bachelor’s degree from UC, a master’s degree from Xavier University, and certificates from George Washington Universty, Yale and UCLA. He volunteers for homeless issues and serves as a management consultant.

Gehring spent four years on the Northwest Local School Board from 2006 to 2009, serving as president of the board in 2007.

He says he is running to open up board processes and input to include the diversity of the district’s community.

He says his educational background reflects his commitment to education and to the benefits of education. He says his work experience demonstrates his ability to understand and manage large budgets effectively.

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Gehring advocates for open and honest interaction with the community when dealing with the district’s finances. “The answer is not more tax income, it involves working within our resources, reducing expenses, and streamlining operational procedures,” he said.

Gehring said budget projections indicate expenses will far exceed income over the next five years.

“We need to review all of our expenses and get realistic with what our district can afford,” he said. He said middle schools need to improve academic performance.

“Our middle schools did not perform well on the most recent state report cards,” he said “While it would be easy to dismiss this performance deficit as problem with the methods used in report card calculations, and we cannot be satisfied with mediocre performance in any of our buildings.” He says the district should identify the root cause of the performance issues and strengthen its curriculum where necessary to improve performance.

Gehring said too many school decisions are made by people with similar opinions.

“We need to introduce more diversity in our school decision process and prepare the next generation of school board members who better represent the diverse makeup of our community,” he said.

He says he is a known commodity. “The year I was president of the board, we passed the first operating levy in 16 years, initiated uniforms at Northwest High, closed Houston Elementary School, balanced our budget, negotiated a long-term contract with our teachers, and selected Butler Tech to operate our technical programs, saving the district over $2 million in annual operating expense,” he said.

Michael Harlow

Michael Harlow, 39, is an education policy consultant with bachelor’s and master’s degrees in public administration from the University of Toledo. He has served on the Northwest High School Construction Technology Advisory Committee

He says he is running for the board to turn around the district’s slide in student achievement and to end what he calls the practice of blackmailing students with sports and activity cuts to pass a levy.

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Harlow says he has worked with other districts throughout Ohio dealing with the same challenges as Northwest, and in some cases their challenges are even stronger, who have been able to turn their districts around.

“I believe in listening to the people in the classrooms to craft solutions from the ground up,” he said. “The top-down, heavy-handed approach doesn’t work.”

He says a top-to-bottom review of all expenditures, with special focus on expenses that benefit the adults more than the students, needs to happen. “We should be compared to similar districts and the best practices should be emulated,” he said.

The district has challenges to be faced. “The biggest challenge is an out-of-touch board that blackmails students and parents to pass levies,” he said. “I won’t vote for a package that inflicts maximum pain on the families of Northwest Local in order to protect friends of the administration.”

Harlow says the lines of communication between the administration and the teachers need to improve.

“I’ve heard from too many rank-and-file teachers that there are too many things happening without their input.,” he said. “Change is like dieting: people have to believe in what they’re doing if there is any chance it is going to work.”

He student achievement is also important. “Change needs to happen but parents and teachers need to have more input,” he said.

“My experience in education policy has shown me what works and what does not work in improving student achievement,” he said. “I can bring home what has worked when districts are faced with the same challenges we have seen.”

Christopher J. Heather

Christopher J. Heather, 57, seeks to return to the board after a six year absence. He is a psych nurse practitioner with a doctorate degree from Case Western Reserve University and a bachelor’s degree from UC. He is 1974 graduate of Colerain High School and is a Captain in the United States Air Force Reserve.

Heather served two terms on the board of education, serving one year as president. He is a member of the Colerain Boosters Association

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He says he is running for the board to promote conservative, traditional American values in our schools, and to be accountable to taxpayers for every tax dollar the district spends.

He says he understands how the school board works, having served two terms.

“After a six-year break, I am ready and willing to serve one more term, as I can bring that past experience back to the board.” He says he has owned a small business, met a payroll there, and understands the importance of accounting for each and every tax dollar.

Heather says he will promote fiscal transparency, where every dollar spent is posted on the district website, with vendor’s names, and amounts paid. “I will work to reduce any areas of the district that are management-heavy, and try to utilize any savings from that for the benefit of the students in the classroom,” he said.

Heather says challenges ahead include improving the district state score from C to A.

“C is simply unacceptable, and puts our district on par with districts we know we are much better than. My solution is to consider returning to earlier, more effective curriculum styles,” he said.

He said a safe and secure environment for students is also a challenge. He says the uniform policy in effect at Northwest High School may need to be extended to other schools.

He says the board cannot be non-responsive to resident needs.

“When I served prior, I returned 100 percent of all resident phone calls and emails within 24 hours,” he said.

Heather says he is a solid conservative, who believes that political correctness is destroying American education and culture.

“Voters can count on me to vote and represent them in a way that will stop this decline in public education and in the classroom,” he said.